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Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Bantustan model

The Bantustan model

 During his visit two weeks ago to Israel, former Italian prime minister Massimo D'Alema hosted a small group of Israelis - public figures and former diplomats - to a dinner at a Jerusalem hotel. The conversation quickly turned to the conciliatory interviews Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave to the press for their Independence Day editions. One of the Israelis, of the type for whom it's second nature, no matter who is in government, to explain and defend Israeli policy, expressed full confidence in Sharon's peace rhetoric. He said the prime minister understands the solution to the conflict is the establishment of a Palestinian state beside Israel.

The former premier from the Italian left said that three or four years ago he had a long conversation with Sharon, who was in Rome for a brief visit. According to D'Alema, Sharon explained at length that the Bantustan model was the most appropriate solution to the conflict. The defender of Israel quickly protested. "Surely that was your personal interpretation of what Sharon said." D'Alema didn't give in. "No, sir, that is not interpretation. That is a precise quotation of your prime minister."

Supplementary evidence backing D'Alema's story can be found in an expensively produced brochure prepared for Tourism Minister Benny Elon, who is promoting a two-state solution - Israel and Jordan. Under the title "The Road to War: a tiny protectorate, overpopulated, carved up and demilitarized," the Moledet Party leader presents "the map of the Palestinian state, according to Sharon's proposal." Sharon's map is surprisingly similar to the plan for protectorates in South Africa in the early 1960s. Even the number of cantons is the same - 10 in the West Bank (and one more in Gaza). Dr. Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, notes that the South Africans only managed to create four of their 10 planned Bantustans.

The Bantustan model, says Liel, was the ugliest of all the tricks used to perpetuate the apartheid regime in most of South Africa's territory. By 1986, unrest in the Bantustans turned into ongoing rioting and terror, which descended into coups in the so-called independent regimes, and South African intervention. The minuscule support the Bantustan governments did enjoy evaporated, so by January 1994, they were finally dismantled and became integrated into the united South Africa of black majority rule.

No country recognized the Bantustans nor did any drop embargoes against South Africa. But veteran leaders of the black struggle against apartheid remember that business people from Israel and Taiwan were the only foreigners who developed business relations with the Bantustan governments. The permission given to the largest of the Bantustans, Bophutatswana, to open a diplomatic office in Tel Aviv infuriated American opponents of the apartheid regime, including Senator Ted Kennedy, and some of the Jewish congressmen of the time.

An Israeli who spent many years nurturing Israeli relations with Africa was also at the dinner hosted by the Italian prime minister. He said that whenever he happened to encounter Sharon, he would be interrogated at length about the history of the protectorates and their structures.

-- "Sharon's Bantustans are far from Copenhagen's hope"; Ha'aretz, 13 May 2003.

http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/news/2008/01/but-apart-from.html

posted by: Whitebeard at 18:26 | link | comments |
israel, palestine

U.S. Resisters

News Release from American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project

Germans Launch Solidarity Campaign for U.S. Resisters

Confined in Mannheim Prison

Call for international support of Vicenza & Bamberg GIs who refused deployment to Afghanistan

 
Berlin, January 30, 2008.  When Iraq veteran and conscientious objector Agustín Aguayo was confined in the U.S. military prison in Mannheim, Germany from October 2006 until April 2007, he received hundreds of post cards and letters from German supporters.  On December 21, 2007, when Agustín was awarded a German peace prize in Stuttgart, he told an audience of hundreds how much the letters and post cards -- many in broken English -- will always mean to him.

 

Now Germans are launching a nationwide initiative to send postcards and letters to three U.S. soldiers who have been confined in Mannheim since this past fall for refusing deployment to Afghanistan: Andrew Hegerty, Jeffrey Gauntt, and James Blanks (details below). The three GIs are all members of the 173rd Airborne, which is presently deployed to Afghanistan and previously fought in Iraq. The 173rd Airborne is headquartered in Vicenza, Italy, and has units in Schweinfurt and in Bamberg, Germany.  Vicenza has been the site of massive Italian and European protest demonstrations against U.S. plans to enlarge the military facilities there.

 

The letter-writing campaign in Germany was initiated by American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project, a network of U.S. citizens in Europe supporting resisting GIs and the anti-base movement in Europe.  The campaign was soon joined by the largest German peace organization, the German Peace Society & Organization of War Resisters (DFG-VK, www.dfg-vk.de), and by Connection, an organization supporting conscientious objectors and war resisters from many countries. Post cards for the soldiers in Mannheim will be made available by DFG-VK at information events and demonstrations throughout Germany this spring as part of a campaign demanding that the German military, the Bundeswehr, withdraw from Afghanistan.  Connection is sponsoring an online initiative with postcards in English for the GIs in Mannheim (http://www.connection-ev.de/briefaktion/index.html).

 

According to surveys, a large majority of Germans oppose the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The German government is nevertheless increasing the participation of German forces in the Afghanistan war. In 2007, for the first time, casualties of non-US soldiers in Afghanistan exceeded those of U.S. soldiers.  In September 2008, renewal of the mandate for continued participation of German forces in Afghanistan will be voted upon in the German parliament (Bundestag). Several German officers and soldiers have refused orders for combat duty in Afghanistan, but so far none of them have gone to jail.

 

In addition to providing its own soldiers, the German government allows the U.S. to use German commercial facilities and the extensive U.S. military facilities in Germany -- larger than any outside the U.S. -- for these wars.  Peace activists point out that Germany achieved sovereignty in 1990 and could cancel the Stationing of Forces agreements with the U.S. at any time.  Some 13,500 soldiers with a “home base” in Germany or in Vicenza are presently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. An additional 8000 GIs in Europe, most of them in stationed Germany, have received deployment orders for 2008.

 

Before refusing deployment to Afghanistan this past summer, the U.S. soldiers presently in Mannheim did not contact any of the organizations in Europe that support GIs; the soldiers therefore did not receive civilian legal counsel or media support.  To make information regarding support possibilities more widely known to GIs stationed in Europe,  Germans in December 2007 started a campaign to distribute the GI Rights Hotline card near U.S. military bases throughout Germany. 2000 cards have been distributed in Germany, and 4000 more are being printed; the cards are also being distributed in Vicenza. The GI Rights Hotline card provides contact information to U.S. counseling services, as well as to U.S. organizations such as Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and organizations in Germany that provide GI counseling and/or support GI resistance.  Distribution of the GI Rights Hotline card in Germany was initiated by AVA Military Project together with the DFG-VK, and is supported by Pax Christi and the German branch of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

 

The U.S. soldiers in Mannheim would likely enjoy hearing from supporters in the U.S., Italy, and other countries. To write to these GIs, either go to the Connection online post card (see above), or send letters and postcards by mail. From Europe, please use the postage rate for mail to the USA.
___________________________

 

ANDREW HEGERTY, age 19, will be confined in the U.S. military prison in Mannheim, Germany, until ca. August 2008 and will receive a dishonorable       discharge for desertion and for failure to follow a lawful order. Andrew was stationed in Vicenza, Italy, and was deployed to Afghanistan from May to September 2007.  In September, while on a brief ? in Vicenza, he went absent without leave.  He visited his family in Wisconsin, then turned himself in at Fort Knox, Kentucky, hoping for a discharge.  However, the Army sent him back to Vicenza.  There he refused an order  to take part in a meeting to prepare to return to Afghanistan.  At his court martial in November 2007, in Vicenza, Andrew pled guilty to charges of desertion and failure to follow an order.  He told the court, “I’m not really able to pull the trigger and shoot anyone.”

Andrew’s postal address in Mannheim: Andrew Hegerty, Unit 29723, Box LL, APO, AE 09028-9723, USA

__________________________

JEFFREY GAUNTT will be confined in the U.S. military prison in Mannheim until ca. April 2008 for going AWOL and for missing deployment. He pled guilty to the charges at a court martial in October 2007 in Vicenza.  Jeffrey has not been in combat.  He was stationed in Vicenza and left his unit on May 21, 2007, the day before his unit deployed to Afghanistan.  On June 19, he turned himself in at the U.S. military base in Rota, Spain.  His punishment is ten months in jail, loss of all pay and benefits, and a bad-conduct discharge.

Jeffrey’s postal address in Mannheim: Jeffrey Gauntt, Unit 29723, Box LL, APO, AE 09028-9723, USA

___________________________

JAMES BLANKS will be confined in the U.S. military prison in Mannheim until ca. February 2008 for going AWOL, missing his unit’s deployment to Afghanistan, and disobeying orders. He pled guilty to the charges at a court martial in September 2007 in Vicenza. James was stationed in Bamberg, Germany and left his unit on April 20, 2007.  His battalion left for Afghanistan on May 17, but James did not return to Bamberg until May 21.  He briefly deployed to Afghanistan before traveling to Vicenza to face charges.  He will forfeit pay and receive a bad-conduct discharge.

James’ postal address in Mannheim (post will likely be forwarded): James Blanks, Unit 29723, Box LL, APO, AE 09028-9723, USA

__________________________

Stars and Stripes news articles on the court martials of these soldiers:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57743&archive=true
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57294&archive=true


______________________________

For further information: American Voices Abroad (AVA) Military Project

Contact: Elsa Rassbach, (00) or (011) 49 30 326 015 40, Email: elsarassbach@gmail.com

Contributions: Richard Forward, Purpose: “GI Rights." By wire:  account # 3300 11 807, Postbank Muenchen, Swift/BIC Code: PBNKDEFF (from Germany - BLZ 700 100 80). By mail: Richard Forward, Preysingstrasse 16, Munich 81667, Germany

posted by: Whitebeard at 13:39 | link | comments |
iraq, resisters

Monday, January 28, 2008
George Hàbash

Is in the memory of history

Few of are the Arab men in the history of the Arab nation if not in international history that shall be immortalized to have fully sacrificed his future and life with full honesty in the service of liberty and advancement, and in particular for the liberation of Palestine from the fascist, racist Zionist occupation. Also the liberation of the Arab people from their ruling juntas most of which are conspiring against the interests of their people with international imperialism, to subjugate them in the service of their criminal interest and against the for interests of the Arab nationalist causes: The unity of the Arab nation, liberation of Arabs and all the struggling peoples of the world.

He was also the moving force in the establishment of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which proved to be under his leadership, and through out its history, have never went out of the principles that it was established to serve and achieve. All through his life as a leader he was targeted by the Zionist movement to liquidate him, but all these attempts were doomed.  May God bless the memory of our great friend and teacher, and may his memory be the example, symbol and guide for the coming Arab generation for which he dedicated his productive life

posted by: Whitebeard at 10:33 | link | comments |
civil rights, peace, palestine, resisters

Friday, January 25, 2008
Let them stay!

Hi all, 

Today, Jan 25, Courage To Resist and the War Resisters Support
Campaign are organizing actions at Canadian consulates in the U.S. and
rallies across Canada urging the Canadian government to give sanctuary to
U.S. service members refusing to fight in Iraq. 

You can take part by sending the following letter (edit to personalize) to
Canadian officials by fax or email. See Courage To Resist web site for more
info: http://www.couragetoresist.org 

Let them stay! 

Steph 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2, CANADA
Fax: 613-941-6900
pm@pm.gc.ca

Minister of Citizenship &
Immigration Diane Finley
Citizenship & Immigration Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1, CANADA
minister@cic.gc.ca

Stéphane Dion, Liberal Party
81 Metcalfe Street, Suite 400
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6M8, CANADA
Phone: 613-996-5789
dion.s@parl.gc.ca



Dear Hon. ____________

As a U.S. citizen, I am writing to ask you to make a provision for sanctuary
for the scores of U.S. military service members currently in Canada, most of
whom have traveled to your country in order to resist fighting in the Iraq
War. 

Please let them stay in Canada. 

When more than 50,000 Americans refused to fight in Vietnam by
immigrating to Canada, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared, "[They]
have my complete sympathy, and indeed our political approach has been to
give them access to Canada. Canada should be a refuge from militarism." 

Today Canada again faces the moral choice of whether to give refuge to
resisters of an unjust war. Immigrating to Canada is much harder now, so
war resisters are seeking refugee status in accord with United Nations
guidelines, "Soldiers who refuse to fight in wars that are widely condemned
by the international community as contrary to standards of human conduct
should be considered as refugees." 

The Canadian Refugee Board, however, has refused to hear arguments
that the war in Iraq is illegal, and it continues to reject these claims. 

The first two U.S. objectors to apply, Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon
Hughey, were recently denied a hearing on their appeal by the Supreme
Court of Canada. 

Robin Long nearly became the first war resister to be deported. We are
thankful that Canadian immigration officials have put his deportation on
hold. However, he and other U.S. war resisters still face deportation-even
before a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada. 

Regardless of the decisions of the Refugee Board or the courts, the
Canadian government should not become party to the persecution of war
resisters. If forced back to the U.S., soldiers of conscience face years of
incarceration and stigmatizing discharges. Although unlikely, even the
death penalty remains as a possible penalty for desertion in wartime under
the U.S. military´s Uniform Code of Military Justice! 

Nearly two of three Canadians are in favor of U.S. war resisters being
allowed to stay according to a recent poll, and of course many wonderful
Canadians have opened their homes and their hearts to our war resisters.
Please continue Canada´s rich tradition of being a refuge from militarism. 

I ask that the Canadian government demonstrate its commitment to
international law -- despite my own government´s shortcomings. I seek your
assurance that U.S. war resisters will not be forced to leave Canada. 

Sincerely,

posted by: Whitebeard at 18:35 | link | comments |
civil rights, democracy, censored news, resisters

Thursday, January 24, 2008
Peace

Dear peace activists,

Reminder: This Saturday, January 26 is a Global Day of Action promoted
by the World Social Forum with over 700 events planned in 80 countries.
Italy is second only to Brazil for the number of initiatives planned.

Saturday afternoon in Rome, there will be two back-to-back protests against
war and the war machine (http://wsf2008.net/eng/node/4012):

*The first at 4pm near the Italian Ministry of Defense, Largo S. Susanna (on
the via XX Settembre side, see http://tinyurl.com/2ohcee)

*The second at 5:30pm at the U.S. Embassy, via Veneto, (just 3 blocks
away, see http://tinyurl.com/2vp9xg)

The demands of the protests include the complete withdrawal of Italian
troops from all war zones, opposition to the new U.S. military base in
Vicenza, a drastic reduction of military spending, annulment of contracts
with the U.S. military for the F-35 fighter jet and the Missile Defense
System.

We will be at both protests with our signs and flags. And bring your pots
and pans - the plan is to make some noise!

That morning, there will also be an important event "The Will to Resist, the
Courage to Refuse," featuring activists from Palestine and Israel as part of
the international campaign End the Seize on Gaza
(http://wsf2008.net/eng/node/3803). Speakers include Lama Hourani
(International Women Commission - Gaza), Basel Mansour (Popular
Committee Against the Wall - Bil´in), Noam Livne (Courage to refuse - Tel
Aviv). This will be held at 10am at the Carta offices, via scalo di San
Lorenzo, 67 (see map http://tinyurl.com/3c4jzr)

This is a unique opportunity to hear from Palestinian and Israeli activists so
we encourage you to attend!

For more information on events in other parts of Italy and the world, see the
World Social Forum web site where you can search for actions:
http://wsf2008.net/

Join us on Saturday the 26th to participate in this important, international
day of action.

For any questions, email (info@peaceandjustice.it) or call (333 11 03 510)

Anna, Gene, Maria, Maria Chiara and Stephanie
---
U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice - Rome
info@peaceandjustice.it
http://www.peaceandjustice.it

posted by: Whitebeard at 16:51 | link | comments |
civil rights, democracy, peace, resisters

Gaza

NEWS UPDATE

By Luisa Morgantini, Vice-President of the European Parliament

Rafah: the breach in the wall is an act of freedom and a strong warning to the EU, the Quartet and Egypt Brussels, 23rd January 2008, "The thousands of Palestinians crossing the Rafah border point these last hours, the breach in the wall and the breaking of the siege decided by Israel against the civil population, are all true acts of resistance and an affirmation of the freedom of that people, not the Qassam rockets being fired at Israeli civilians that contravene international law, or the bloodshed inflicted on the Palestinian civil population perpetuated by Israeli raids. When walls fall down there's always a sense of freedom. The images we are getting from southern Gaza, with men and women pouring into Egypt in order to buy essential supplies such as food and medicines that are nowhere to be found because of four days of total closure and black out in the Gaza Strip, are the natural result of the inhuman siege imposed by Israel: as rightly declared by President Mahmoud Abbas, the responsibility lies with Israeli policy, which has forced people who are completely worn out to cross the borders of the cage in which they are imprisoned and collectively punished with complete disregard for humanity and international law. This is the predictable outcome of a policy of isolation, not only towards Hamas, but also the one and a half million Gaza inhabitants, a policy that the European Union has also supported by endorsing de facto the embargo decided by Israel. Hamas risks to become stronger as a result of this situation, not weaker as can be seen by all the demonstrations that took place in the Islamic world during these cold and dark days in Gaza. People pouring into Egypt and also people returning to Gaza after forced exile bringing any kinds of goods, show all of us the tragedy of a besieged but never resigned population, a population that has seen women in the front line of the demonstration struggling and being harshly repressed yesterday: these are the non-violent actions that should be supported and in which all Palestinians should gain renewed strength and unity. I hope they will not be used by anyone to apply a definitive separation of Gaza and the West Bank in what should be the Palestinian State within the occupied territories of '67. But for sure they are also a warning for the International Community as a whole, first and foremost the Quartet, the European Union and Egypt, which are responsible for the transit of goods and people through Rafah Crossing. Unfortunately, they have never been able to accomplish this task. I sincerely hope that Rafah border crossing with Egypt will be immediately opened and the legal freedom of movement for people and goods be established, not the arbitrary closures by Israel. Arms trafficking can be stopped without bombing and without enclosing the population in an open-air prison. I hope that Olmert's government receives this message: only the end of the Gaza siege, the end of the raids and of the military occupation can guarantee security for both people and the coherence needed for the respect of all commitments to peace."

Further information Luisa Morgantini +39 348 39 21 465 or Brussels Office + 32 22 84 51 51 luisa.morgantini@europarl.europa.eu; www.luisamorgantini.net

posted by: Whitebeard at 16:31 | link | comments |
palestine

Gaza

 
 
"The Accomplices"
 
By Luisa Morgantini*
 
Published in Liberazione, Italian Newspaper
 
January 22, 2008
 
"Palestine, A Need to Break the Silence. Italy and Europe should Act Here and Now"
 
The late and uncertain reactions of the European Union are aggravating
the isolation and the dramatic situation of the people in the territories.
 
More than forty Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in just one week of heavy Israeli raids into the Gaza Strip and West Bank.   Amongst the victims is a woman who died as a consequence of the attack on the Interior Ministry, carpet bombed on Friday, January 18th, according to plan: a planned war and collective punishment against an "enemy entity" in which 1.5 million people live. 
 
By this hour the crossing point for fuel and medicine has supposedly been reopened. Yet this happens only after four consecutive days of total siege during which the inhabitants of the strip were forced to stay for hours in the cold and darkness due to the fuel cut. The defense ministry, in reality the war ministry, led by Ehud Barak, has completely sealed all the borders, blocking even the humanitarian convoys from the United Nations in a strip already suffocated from months of closure, with patients in the hospital who can't receive care, generators and water pumps shut, long lines for bread in front of bakeries, and the UNRWA announcing: "If the present situation persists we'll have to stop distributing food for 860,000 people by Thursday or Friday."   The UN agency that deals with assisting Palestinian refugees however, has repeated these denunciations over and over in recent months. Evidently though, this has been ignored by those "merchants of politics and wars" when we are still seeing, according to Amnesty International and other NGO's, at least thirteen patients with cancer or other severe diseases not allowed outside the strip for treatment and facing the risk of dying in silence. This is what happened to   62 others since the beginning of the siege due to lack of permits and what continues happening to even more people being wounded and killed now in the latest bombings.  
 
Its hard to keep up with the number of the dead; they increase hour by hour at every time one checks with the news agencies.   It's hard to explain that behind each number there are children, women and men: "we've killed 810 Palestinians," says Diskin, head of the Shin Bet and commander of the Gaza Brigade.   Colonel Ron Ashrov congratulates himself for having conducted an operation with great success given his operation had killed eighteen Palestinians last week in Zeitun.
 
And there is no condemnation from the international community nor from the European Union, apart from the isolated statements of the EU commissioner for exterior relations, Benita Ferrero Waldner, who yesterday demanded that Israel "resume the delivery of oil and reopen the borders" to humanitarian aid, and the late voices from the Italian and French governments who express preoccupation over "an already catastrophic humanitarian situation."   Apart from condemnation for the worsening of the humanitarian crisis and requests to allow the entrance of medicine and fuel, nobody has so far firmly demanded the reopening of the strip's crossings to people and merchandise and the end of the embargo that is strangling Gaza.   Ending the siege also represents the only way to stop the Qassam rocket launchings on Israeli civilians by Palestinians, condemnable, counterproductive, and a sign of powerlessness and anger, not of resistance.   The European Union, instead, has remained deaf to the resolution voted on last October in the European Parliament demanding that the Israeli government put an end to the siege of Gaza, and has demonstrated a complete lack of political efficacy for an immediate stand against all we are witnessing numbly, and yet are responsible for.  
 
The EU should first ask forgiveness for not having helped end the Israeli military occupation and for not having helped the formation of two people and two states; ask forgiveness for the dead in the Strip, for not having ordered immediately and with a unified voice a stop to Israeli air strikes.   Forgiveness for not yet having the strength to propose the immediate intervention of an international force that would protect both civil populations, of occupied Palestine and of Israel, and can guarantee them the legality and security that forty years of Israeli military occupation have washed away, together with any hope for peace and notwithstanding the broken promises of Annapolis.  
 
Yesterday a new international presence to protect civilians was demanded by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in an interview with the newspaper L'Unita "to create the minimal condition for negotiations to develop in the best way." He also appealed to the Italian government to "act, together with other European countries, on Israel, and make it end its collective punishment inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza."  
 
Instead the policies of the EU and the international community have contributed to the division of the Palestinian population and the weakening of it's political representation; wasting the chance to strengthen the cohesion by denying support to the national unity government, a government in which all Palestinian political entities were gathered around a table and agreeing on a shared political platform of resuming negotiations with Israel, the right of two states for two peoples based on the 1967 border and with Jerusalem as a shared capitol.   We have contributed in the creation of this crisis and to the basis for a logic that is key to US and Israeli politics of dividi et impera consuming a people already exhausted, occupied, and under siege.  Also we are now complicit in this logic if we do not promote the principle that only a policy of inclusion can lead the way for a just and lasting peace, if we don't concretely support the tenacious efforts of President Mahmoud Abbas and of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for the unity of the Palestinian people and territory, and if at last we don't at last send positive messages, even within tragedies, like a delegation of Fatah members did a few days ago visiting Mahmoud Az-Zahhar, Hamas leader and ex-foreign minister in the Gaza Strip to express condolences for the killing of his son Husam during one of the Israeli air strikes last Tuesday, or like the grief of the father of the Israeli soldier Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas and not released because the Israeli government does not want to free Palestinian prisoners.  
 
With all of this blood, with all of these deaths, nobody can be absolved for their silence. The European Union, just like the policy of the Quartet, are responsible and need to assume responsibility: demand the end of the bombings and the siege of Gaza – as asked by civil society the world over reunited in the "End the Siege" campaign ( www.end-gaza-siege.ps   / email: end.gaza.siege@gmail.com) -  that on the 26th will see Israeli, Palestinian and International organizations try to break the siege by marching together at the Eretz crossing into Gaza with a convoy carrying goods gathered by the Israeli population.   Also in Rome, as in other cities in the world, people will gather to ask for the end of the siege of Gaza.  But it should be the government and the United Nations to act to ensure an international protection of the civilian population, work for the unity of the Palestinian people and the end of the Israeli occupation.   And overall it is time to put pressure on Ehud Olmert's government to respect the promises made to gain peace and security, starting with the end of the raids into Gaza and ceasing the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Olmert's current policy pushes for acts of war, spreads violence and incites revenge, destroying any possibility of peace and security for both populations.
 
We need to break the silence and act:  Italy and Europe should respond to the appeal by Fayyad to "save Gaza from pain," it's also the way to stop the rockets that are raining on the city of Sderot and support the many Israelis and the majority of Palestinians who want peace and equal rights and who still find the courage to refuse and the tenacity to resist in the popular and nonviolent fight.  
 
*Vice President of the European Parliament
 Translated into English by Corinna Giorgi e Ben Scribner 

posted by: Whitebeard at 16:16 | link | comments |
civil rights, palestine

The biggest prison on earth

Dear friends,

The people of Gaza are being squeezed to death. This week's blackouts have finally reached the attention of the world -- and the international community could help end the blockade. Our obligation is clear. This isn't about Israel vs Palestine or Hamas vs Fatah: this is about 1.5 million human beings locked up in the biggest prison on earth. The siege of Gaza is a collective punishment violating international law, and far from ensuring Israel's security, it is only stoking rage and desperation.

Incredibly, the UN, European Union and Arab League have so far failed to act. We must seize this moment with an emergency campaign: demanding that the international community step in to end this blockade, ensure the free flow of supplies, and help broker the ceasefire which civilians on all sides desperately need. Please click below to sign the emergency petition -- we'll deliver it to the UN, EU and Arab League when we reach 100,000 signatures, so sign and tell everyone you know:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_end_the_siege/8.php?cl=51735081

The humanitarian crisis of sealed-off Gaza is only getting worse, and a rain of missiles is falling. No genuine peace talks will be possible while the siege continues. In the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006, we saw how global pressure and assistance can help stop a crisis and protect civilians from harm -- we cannot stay silent about the crisis in Gaza. Please add your name now at the link above, and forward this message widely.

With hope and determination,

Ricken, Paul, Galit, Esra'a, Pascal, Ben and the whole Avaaz team

PS For more about the crisis:

Associated Press article including Red Cross report:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNIUuovp8Buyld1S6EFTSWfznQZwD8UB050G0

Former Clinton official calls for ceasefire, ending siege:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/opinion/edmalley.php

UN reports on the humanitarian crisis, including background to the blackouts:
http://www.ochaopt.org/?module=displaysection§ion_id=11&static=0&format=html

Deepening medical crisis in Gaza (UN):
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75693

posted by: Whitebeard at 09:35 | link | comments |
civil rights, palestine

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

 

posted by: Whitebeard at 11:08 | link | comments |
us, war, torture

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

WHO IS TALKING about TORTURE?  

CIA videotapes of "enhanced interrogation" of detainees held in secret prisons were made in 2002, and destroyed in 2005, apparently with the encouragement of the White House.  These tapes showed waterboarding—where a prisoner is strapped down brought to the brink of drowning. 

The torture state goes directly to Dick Cheney's White House. MSNBC reports that Cheney endorsed the use of "water boarding" and confirmed it was used at Guantanamo.

Tonight, Frontline on PBS repeated Cheney's Law"  You can watch the entire program online here.

Friday Jan 11: UCLA students demonstrate waterboarding to protest torture.

posted by: Whitebeard at 08:03 | link | comments |
us, civil rights, war, torture, resisters

Saturday, January 12, 2008
Impeach

posted by: Whitebeard at 09:51 | link | comments |
us, civil rights, peace, war, iran, resisters

Tuesday, January 08, 2008
A signature

Thank you for sending your letter. You have joined people from around the world calling for Fouad's release. You can help amplify the call by encouraging your friends and family to send letters as well. Click here to send a "tell-a-friend" message to encourage others to participate. For updates on Fouad's case, visit www.alfarhan.org.

Meanwhile, Fouad's two young children await their father's return.

posted by: Whitebeard at 09:28 | link | comments |
civil rights, democracy

 

About me

User: Whitebeard
Name: Urbano Cipriani
A retired teacher of history and litterature.

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